Functional View of English Grammar

Author:

Rastall, Paul

Year:

1995

Pages:

164

ISBN:

0-7734-8922-3978-0-7734-8922-6

Price:

159.95

The theory and methods of a functionalist approach to grammar (following such thinkers as Martinet and Mulder) are explained and applied to key areas of English grammar. Functionalist approaches provide a relatively simple means for analysis and the understanding of communicational structures peculiar to individual languages. In those ways, functionalist linguistics can contribute to our understanding of mankind as a species. Special attention is paid to the major and minor sentence types and significant and redundant features of English as well as to adjectival constructions, prepositions, parasyntactic features and the "dynamics" of contemporary English.

Reviews

"In nine lucid chapters, the author presents his views on English grammar, using the functionalist approach of Martinet. . . . a useful contribution to an approach to grammar partly outside the mainstream of linguistic theory in this country." - The Journal of Indo-European Studies

". . . the book is a valuable item in the library of any linguist dealing with the grammar of English since the ways of tackling certain grammatical problems appear to be original and result in numerous insightful observations. It can also be treated as a helpful reference book for teachers of English as it contains numerous items of information concerning the English grammar which may add to the methodological basis of any English language teacher believing in communicative approach to Second Language Teaching." - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching